Florida vote shows "pattern of racism"
MichaelP
By Kevin Anderson in Washington
"Many believe this is the rebirth of the black civil rights movement."
Blacks sue in Florida
Jesse Jackson alleges blacks were blocked from voting
Civil rights leader Jesse Jackson joined several black political leaders
from Florida on Wednesday in filing a lawsuit against a county election
official, saying that the election board has prevented blacks from voting
in the presidential election.
The suit alleges:
* that the design of the ballot was confusing
* that several black voters were turned away because they did not have
voter ID or photo ID cards
* that several black voters were not registered although they believed
that they had registered when they applied for driver's licences.
Republican officials say the charges are unfounded, but the suit was the
latest of several allegations that black voters faced unequal treatment in
the election in Florida.
RACIAL TARGETING
In a news conference, Reverend Jackson said that people looking at the
election in Florida would "see a pattern of racial targeting."
Florida Representative Corrine Brown joined Reverend Jackson in the
lawsuit against the Duval County Supervisor of Elections.
More than 27,000 votes were discarded in Duval County. She said that of
those 27,000 votes, 42% of them were cast by blacks.
Protest leaders said that more than 20% of black votes were discarded in
Duval County
"Overall, it is estimated that 20% of the African American presidential
votes in Duval County were discarded," she said.
An analysis by the Washington Post showed that as many as one in three
ballots was discarded in some black areas of Jacksonville, a city in Duval
county.
The analysis found that was four times as many as in white precincts
elsewhere in the county.
Representative Brown alleged that blacks were prevented from voting in
several ways across the state.
"They include police roadblocks, being singled out for criminal background
checks and being turned away from the polls because they lacked
identification," she added.
Blacks turned out in record numbers for this election, according to Jim
DeFede, a political columnist with the New Times in Miami.
In 1996, about 520,000 blacks voted in Florida, but close to 900,000
blacks voted in the recent election, he said. And an overwhelming 93% of
blacks voted for Vice-President Al Gore.
Mr DeFede said that the NAACP, the Congressional Black Caucus, and labour
and civil liberties groups worked to register black voters, especially at
traditionally black universities in Florida.
Organisers of the vote drive were able to feed off of anger in the black
community against Governor Jeb Bush who had signed several executive
orders ending affirmative action programmes.
Political organisers told the black community to "Remember in November".
Following the election, the NAACP held hearings and documented 326
instances of suspicious activities. Mr DeFede urged full investigations
into these allegations.
He said that the US Justice Department should have got involved earlier
and that the media has done little to investigate claims of discrimination
against black voters.
Investigation and discussions are needed to determine whether these are
matters of perception or a racist conspiracy, Mr DeFede said.
He gave the example of Adora Obi Nweze, the president of the Florida
NAACP. She had expected to be busy getting out the vote on election day so
had applied for an absentee ballot. It never came.
Determined to vote, she went early to her local polling place. The
election worker told her she could not vote because records showed that
she had received an absentee ballot. The election worker told her to
leave.
Ms Obi Nweze told the election worker she had not received the absentee
ballot and that she was entitled to sign an affidavit to that affect and
vote. If records later showed that she voted twice, Ms Obi Nweze said she
was open to prosecution.
She argued with the election worker and the polling site supervisor for an
hour and a half. A call to local election officials finally confirmed that
she could vote by signing the affidavit.
This might have been a simple case of bureaucratic red tape, or it might
have been an example of racism, Mr DeFede said, adding an investigation
might resolve the issue.
If the cases are not investigated, the black community might lose faith in
the electoral process, he said.
Portia Palmer is the director of African American Outreach for the
Republican Party in Florida. She has been working for the last 18 months
to win black voters over to the GOP.
She said that there had been a lot of discussion about the charges of
voter irregularities in black precincts, and she said, "The charges are
unfounded."
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